MBTA Commuter Rail (Operations, Keolis, & Short Term)

South Coast Rail final funding approved by the state at the MassDOT board meeting today, looks like phase 1 might actually happen.

Link:
http://blog.mass.gov/transportation/mbta/south-coast-rail-program-reaches-phase-1-major-milestones/?hootPostID=5a4f1440dc84ea0cb80ee4dff04ee25a

Unfortunately: "the date for start of service is now projected to be in late 2023"

And Re:Riverside, no it doesn't include rehabbing the existing platform that's in "Ruggles Phase 2" which is in planning phase now. The platform project is slightly behind schedule but moving along.
 
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South Coast Rail final funding approved by the state at the MassDOT board meeting today, looks like phase 1 might actually happen.

Link:
http://blog.mass.gov/transportation/mbta/south-coast-rail-program-reaches-phase-1-major-milestones/?hootPostID=5a4f1440dc84ea0cb80ee4dff04ee25a

Unfortunately: "the date for start of service is now projected to be in late 2023"

And Re:Riverside, no it doesn't include rehabbing the existing platform that's in "Ruggles Phase 2" which is in planning phase now. The platform project is slightly behind schedule but moving along.

Phase one sucks. There isn't enough capacity on the single tracked Old Colony portion for it to be worth it.

Also having better access to Back Bay station would increase ridership a good bit.
 
Phase one sucks. There isn't enough capacity on the single tracked Old Colony portion for it to be worth it.

Also having better access to Back Bay station would increase ridership a good bit.

Regardless, phase 1 contains all the necessary pre-cursors to any phase 2 service, building the stations, layovers, tracks and bridges that will all be required if phase 2 ever gets built. And believe me its been extensively modeled how trains will fit into the schedules. And equally an issue, there isn't enough capacity on the NEC corridor between Forest Hills and Back Bay either for added service.

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Commuter Rail Locomotives: Contract approved for Motive Power to fully rehab 27 F40 locomotives. Does not preclude any electrification by the time that's ready to go.

That's actually the option agreement on the existing rebuild contract, rather than a new contract. The base was for 10 locos, and this expands it out to the full F40 fleet.

All F40PH-2C (1988 vintage) and F40PHM-2C (1993 vintage) units on the roster will be rebuilt to F40PH-3C spec. New computer controls replacing old electromechanical controls, new emissions controls (now compliant with EPA Tier 0+ standards), LED lights, electronic bells, refresh/major repair of worn components, carbody abatement work. Basically, they're the same as they ever were except for being somewhat less nasty on the fumes. The -3C designation mostly means that obsolete parts have been swapped out for modernized equivalents that are in-stock today, aren't carrying legacy stuff that can't be found without scouring the aftermarket for scrap, and that the units are guaranteed able to live out their rated lifespan without running out of parts. That's important, because the very similar GP40MC fleet that's getting in-house repair (propulsion refresh and band-aids, not a full rebuild) has no rebuild path and is rapidly seeing its parts supply chain getting choked off for certain components. In addition to the T, Metra (largest fleet of F40's) and Metro North have fleets of F40PH-3/-3C's rebuilt between 2008-2018.


Pilot unit is back in revenue service as of last month:
http://photos.nerail.org/photos-original/2019/04/04/2019040409393720351.jpg


One worrying sign about this program is that ^^pilot^^ 1054 (a 1988 specimen) had so much frame corrosion they blew out their cost target by a wide margin on the carbody work and now have to mull whether to cheap out on the other units to keep within-budget. A bad omen for keeping these service-ready another 15 years if they have to use too much bondo instead of steel to get this program done.

At least they'll be reliable again. Say what you will about unsexy 1970's-tech diesels, but well taken-care of the F40's are goddamn bulletproof. And that's a major reason they are still the #1 passenger loco make in-service in North America 43 years after the first unit rolled off the assembly line. Future purchases of electric, EMU, DMU, whatever...there will never ever ever be too much equipment to go around with all the service increases the T has to stake itself to for implementing RER. These things will be sorely needed from the day they get back from the rebuild factory until the day years from now that they'll once again be too beat up to continue. The only thing to potentially criticize about this contract is what cost overruns might get incurred if the carbodies on unit after unit keep being assessed in far worse shape than ever imagined.
 
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One worrying sign about this program is that ^^pilot^^ 1054 (a 1988 specimen) had so much frame corrosion they blew out their cost target by a wide margin on the carbody work and now have to mull whether to cheap out on the other units to keep within-budget. A bad omen for keeping these service-ready another 15 years if they have to use too much bondo instead of steel to get this program done.

Another minor concern is that the pilot 1054 went out of service within a week of being back due to motor issues and had its traction motor fully replaced, not great for a newly rebuilt loco but the MBTA manager seemed confident the issue had been permanently resolved and wouldn't happen again in future rebuilds.
 
Another minor concern is that the pilot 1054 went out of service within a week of being back due to motor issues and had its traction motor fully replaced, not great for a newly rebuilt loco but the MBTA manager seemed confident the issue had been permanently resolved and wouldn't happen again in future rebuilds.

Traction motors are "consumables" that wear out and get replaced after a couple years of duty at most, and often blow before their time. Not good on optics to have a faulty motor the pilot soon after return from the factory, but also not indicative of a deeper problem because they're using the same motors they ever were supplied by same electricity from the same prime movers they've always had.

IIRC, the HSP-46's had a bunch of hullabaloo during their pilot testing about improperly-installed traction motors that were shorting out. Also with a motor make that's in widespread use (same one as on the GE Genesis P32 dual-mode). Maybe MPI's Boise factory just needs to hire more competent motor techs if that's a longstanding pattern for them.
 
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The new Cheslea station is in a pretty bad spot, further from where people in Cheslea actually live.

Yeah it is unfortunate. Looking at some rough figures though it looks to me that it would be really difficult to fit in two 800ft platforms at the existing location and keep the SL3 busway, especially around Washington Ave bridge. New location will hopefully be able to avoid blocking grade crossings when stopped though. And hopefully allows SL3 to continue past because currently when the train is stopped and the barriers are down SL3 isn't allowed to proceed through the intersection.
 
Yeah it is unfortunate. Looking at some rough figures though it looks to me that it would be really difficult to fit in two 800ft platforms at the existing location and keep the SL3 busway, especially around Washington Ave bridge. New location will hopefully be able to avoid blocking grade crossings when stopped though. And hopefully allows SL3 to continue past because currently when the train is stopped and the barriers are down SL3 isn't allowed to proceed through the intersection.

Yeah, the grade crossings did the old location in. Mystic Mall also has TOD potential - not that you should look to move stations away from old downtowns toward potential new ones, but since in this case they had to...
 
Yeah it is unfortunate. Looking at some rough figures though it looks to me that it would be really difficult to fit in two 800ft platforms at the existing location and keep the SL3 busway, especially around Washington Ave bridge. New location will hopefully be able to avoid blocking grade crossings when stopped though. And hopefully allows SL3 to continue past because currently when the train is stopped and the barriers are down SL3 isn't allowed to proceed through the intersection.

Closing the superfluous 3rd Ave. grade crossing would be much preferable from a safety/sightlines standpoint since the 2nd to Everett stretch is now going to be very visually cluttered from the engineer's view. But Peter Pan Bus has lobbied for eons to keep it open because they like their back-driveway shortcut from their maintenance garage on 3rd. At least nothing's stopping the city + T from throwing up the jersey barriers across that crossing at whatever point they can finally break the bloc of politicians in Peter Pan's pocket.
 
Amtrak is Blocking MBTA Electrification

Ten years ago, Amtrak began putting out its outrageously expensive proposals for high-speed rail on the Northeast Corridor. Already then, when it asked for $10 billion to barely speed up trains, there was a glaring problem with coordination: Amtrak wanted hundreds of millions of dollars to three-track the Providence Line so that its trains could overtake the MBTA’s commuter trains between Providence and Boston, even though the same benefit could be obtained for cheaper by building strategic overtakes and electrifying the MBTA so that its trains would run faster. Unfortunately, Amtrak has not only displayed no interest in coordinating better service with the MBTA this way, but has just actively blocked the MBTA.

https://pedestrianobservations.com/2019/05/16/amtrak-is-blocking-mbta-electrification/


Good article worth reading
 
Ridiculous. No way Amtrak can double its Acela tph by 2040 interlodged between a bunch of crawling disels. Does the MBTA own any of the NEC that it can gain back some bargaining power?

Massachusetts owns the Northeast corridor the whole way between Rhode island and South Station.

However it was Amtrak and federal money that improved the line and so there is a operating agreement in place which gives Amtrak the dispatch control and a monopoly as the overhead electricity provider.

Amtrak is not really in the business of promoting Transit use, and so if you ask for locomotives slots or electricity they have a reputation of charging full price
 
Amtrak has been notoriously difficult for the MBTA to work with, even on simple projects like the extra Ruggles commuter rail platform they've added extra complexity. However blaming them for a lack of electrification is just incorrect. The MBTA has made it clear that they prefer the flexibility of a single mode fleet to interchange locomotives and trains between lines for the time being and I doubt that will change until CR Vision produces a realistic plan for implementation of an electric or dual mode fleet.

it took them years to agree on it But yes, the MBTA owns the tracks from RI to Boston and has an agreement with Amtrak where Amtrak provides MOW and dispatching.

And yes, the NEC could benefit from a third track or passing track near the RI border, it's no secret that commuter rail trains currently make and will always make far more stops than Amtrak trains. No electrification will change that, electric trains are only marginally faster accelerating than diesels.
 

No, it's one of the worst posts Alon has ever written. This line in particular is liar-liar pants-on-fire bad:

The line is already wired thanks to Amtrak’s investment in the 1990s, and all that is required is wiring a few siding and yard tracks that Amtrak did not electrify as it does not itself use them
There is a whole shitload more to do than just that, and he bloody well knows it because it's been discussed ad nauseam in the comment section of his own blog many times before.

There is not enough electrical capacity to run electric commuter trains alongside Amtrak. The Providence Line would short out the whole system if it attempted to run its whole schedule under wire right this second. As solo investor in the system back when it was built in 1999, Amtrak only built enough substation capacity to track with its own 25-year growth. Commuter needs, which went unspecified at the time because the T had no plans to electrify, would have to be handled by expanding the existing substations. Something ConnDOT just finished doing to Branford and New London subs for enabling M8 EMU's to start operating on Shore Line East. And something the MBTA must do at Sharon substation, which you can see from Google was built with more than 2x as much empty space as it has installed equipment strictly for the purpose of when-needed commuter expansion.

In no way, shape, or form is re-outfitting a substation a pick-up-and-go task. It's large up-front expense, significant planning, significant equipment construction, and significant involvement with the utilities as Eversource has to run all kinds of simulations and risk assessments for peak load on its high-tension lines 2000 ft. south of Sharon sub. It is probably a 3-5 year process between funding/go-ahead and actually turning on the extra capacity. And it would have to be coordinated with RIDOT being able to fund a similar but somewhat lesser expansion of Warwick sub, which handles everything from the power break in Norton, MA to Richmond, RI...encompassing the southern 14 miles of the main Providence schedule through Attleboro, South Attleboro, Pawtucket, and Providence stations, plus all the extended-run mileage to Wickford and Kingston. You better hope for a non-gridlocked fed grant award season if you hope to be able to keep RI lockstep with MA on funding those expansions. And you have to have all these arrangements sewn up before you go shopping for the first EMU to go under those wires.

Again: Levy knows this.

The electric loco lease wasn't going to work anyway except as a technological evaluation, because it was impossible to put enough of them in-service at one time. They also would've had to be maintained at extremely busy Amtrak Southampton Shops, where Northeast Regional and Acela equipment gets serviced. The T knows all about how congested Southampton is, because they've been butting heads with Amtrak for years of Purple Line sets taking up yard space meant for Regionals. Putting lease engines on top of the shop's duties would've required them to hire more staff...so of course the rental price was high: the parts-and-labor needed to go heavy on the labor part. This is in no way a conspiracy. It merely reflects that this deal would've been tough going logistically all-around...from the electrical capacity to the maintenance capacity.

Levy knows this; it's been discussed before on his site.

Level boarding: yes, it sucks that the Providence Line doesn't have it. But Amtrak controls the tracks while the T controls the stations, and Amtrak has sketched out that each of those stations needs passing-track capacity. So of course the T is not going to raise platforms in-place when Amtrak could come up to them a week later and say "I've got match funding to quad-track Sharon and Mansfield with platform turnouts; you ready for the jackhammer?" They need to act in lockstep to do anything, and right now Amtrak keeps saying MA isn't a priority. The T can't even raise the platforms at existing quad-track Attleboro because Amtrak isn't willing to install new crossovers to let CSX back up onto the Middleboro Secondary from the center tracks when it's got a wide-load freight that won't clear a full-high.

Now, building something twice for the sake of instant gratification might be fine and dandy for some high-and-mighty faraway transpo blogger, but I think most MA taxpayers would have a significant bone to pick with that. And once more: Levy knows this arrangement; he's spewed spittle all over the comments section before about what a trav-sham-ockery it is that the T has to hold hands at all with Amtrak on stuff like this. Boo-hoo, can't we just ignore legalities.


Also...when pressed for attribution on where he heard this:
1. No, I’ve heard this privately from area activists who are in constant touch with MBTA and adjacent officials.
Well, that's certainly reliable sourcing! He wouldn't even stoop to calling this a TransitMatters scoop, because they actually vet their statements before releasing them. So this heresay is possibly no more trustworthy than a game of telephone spanning between Joe Pesaturo's lackeys and somebody's Twitter feed.:roll:

I'd comment on my own over there, but I'm in no mood tonight for that adirondacker12800 troll to render it unreadable by flooding the zone with non-sequiturs until it completely breaks the threading until you can't tell who's replying to whom (already happening). And since the name of the game on this piece was disingenuity it would only be stuff that's been said to him many times before with no pushback.
 
Terrible night for northern commuter rail lines. 2 lines basically shut down during rush hour.
 
Terrible night for northern commuter rail lines. 2 lines basically shut down during rush hour.
The Lowell Line shutdown was not Commuter Rail/Keolis' fault. A piece of drilling equipment for the GLX broke down pretty much on the Lowell Line ROW. More of a GLX fail. Incredibly, the T/Keolis scrambled bus substitution that utilized police escorts!! What a great job and coordination from the T on the mitigation plan.

The Eastern Route was delayed significantly due to the Beverly Draw getting stuck open (again).
 
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New CR platform canopies at North Station look ready for winter. Are they being mostly installed overnight?

Let's hope they're more rustproof/saltproof than those they replace.
 
F-Line I think I agree in general about following Rt-128as being a non-starter -- with one exception:

from just south of Totten Pond Rd exit [Winter St.] past Trapello Rd on to Rt-2 in Lexington there is essentially one continuous strip on both sides of the highway with several million square feet of high-value office / lab space -- this will eventually generate more than 10,000 commuters as well as some restaurants and hotels

You could put in a Mattapan High Speed Trolley Line type of service running just behind the buildings along Wyman St and Smith Street -- you would have to take some pieces of parking lots by eminent domain unless you wanted to tunnel

The local biz coalition is already on this with a proposal for a circulator bus connecting to the also-proposed Fitchburg Line + 70 bus superstation at Exit 26. The circulator would leverage the MassHighway frontage road proposed for direct-connecting MA 117 to US 20/Exit 26 off the Bear Hill Rd./117 intersection.

What you're pitching here is EXACTLY the ideal role for circulator buses at the 'spines' stations, where to-be-Urban Rail 15 minute headways drive demand for these short bus loops. A well-studied example of such a circulator is the one that's been proposed for the Green Line Needham extension at New England Business Center. City of Newton has a detailed presentation on that (PDF's are oft-linked on AB...try the Newton-Needham threads on the dev forum) stepping out the redevelopable square footage, jobs, economic impact to the city, and congestion issues on Needham St. The NEBC Green Line stop they propose (just east of the former/future 128 overpass, while stop spacing would strongly hint at a separate stop west of the overpass on Gould St. for all the redev around TV Place and for load-balancing the Pn'R audience) would have a circulator covering the whole swath of real estate down to Kendrick St., and would hit the parking garages in the development for reverse-commuters.

That same model can be applied to pretty much all of the 128-hitting 'spine' stops once they get the necessary rail frequencies: Westwood, Dedham/Legacy Place, Highland Ave./NEBC, the Waltham/Weston infill on the Fitchburg Line, Anderson RTC, a Quannapowitt infill on the Reading Line, and the Peabody Branch to North Shore Mall. Plus Riverside if Urban Rail retires enough of the Pike express bus routes to free up rubber-tire equipment for reassignment, and Quincy Adams if the bus facilities realignment can load-spread more equipment to outer garages like Quincy. And obviously with strengthened Urban Rail frequencies on the commuter rail lines the privately-funded biz coalition shuttles have a firmer leg to stand on and won't be nearly so volatile to service cuts in the slightest economic downtown (which has really hampered them getting well-established to-date).

I would cringe if any of these biz coalitions started calling for luxury aesthetics like a trolley dinky, because worldwide this is exactly the application where buses are the preferred mode for last-mile linkage that scales quickly. Look at what ConnDOT has in the pipeline with the Hartford Line; all of the office parks it passes through are getting year-after-year rollouts of shuttles, both public and public-private variety. That's the model to follow, because ConnDOT did their homework on how upstart lines around the world have handled the last-mile problem in suburbia. RER frequencies to the 'burbs and aiming to go dense on the areas in walking distance of a suburban station are only part of the battle. Last-mile transit has to get a lot better as well if those stops are to wean off some of their extreme over-reliance on parking. That means way more local bus routes run at acceptable frequency...not only the biz shuttles, but densification of the RTAs' route maps. None of it is sexy-looking, and looking for it to be sexy-looking is beside the point. It's just frequencies begetting connecting frequencies, and each continuing to amplify each other over time. Ops-side, not mode-side, grunt work.
 
The T bought more "broke 'ems" for the commuter rail
Yeah, It was obvious from the discussion that this would be the result. The argument is that capacity was needed yesterday, the single level coaches need replacing regardless, and we can sell them (theoretically) if we turn out not to need them for full life because there is a dearth of coaches in the market.

Take that as you will.
 

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